Jean Degu, the governor of French India, did not break his promise, not only cooperated militarily, but also provided a large amount of daily necessities, and even dropped more than 30 M1897 75 field guns and a considerable number of Hatch Chase light machine guns and Maxim heavy machine guns.

In order to block the entry of the islanders and completely get rid of their shackles, Jean Degu can be regarded as fighting.

French India and Siam were originally divided by the Mekong River, and the fortifications on both sides were permanent fortifications that had been built over many years, and the special warfare division hardly had to spend much effort on them.

Of course, before consolidating their own fortifications, they must not forget to destroy the fortifications on the other side that may be exploited by the enemy, and after most of the night and a morning of busy work, the soldiers finally completed this not easy task.

At about 9 o'clock, Zhang Linghu and Chief of Staff Tang Shihao appeared on the Mekong River in the face of a violent storm, more than a mile or two away from the Vientiane Bridge.

Zhang Linghu raised his wrist to look at the time, turned around and asked, "Chief of Staff, have the personnel all retreated?" ”

"All withdrawn, just waiting for your order." Tang Shihao said.

"Good!" Zhang Linghu said and took the walkie-talkie from the soldiers on the side, and shouted: "All of them, the first phase will explode!" ”

"Boom, boom!"

With an order, a rumbling explosion was heard on the south bank of the Mekong River, and the entire south bank stretched for several miles and was shrouded in sky-high flames, and the explosion lasted for more than ten minutes.

But the destruction did not stop there, as soon as the explosion stopped, Zhang Linghu raised the walkie-talkie to his mouth again and howled: "All of them, the second phase of the explosion!" ”

Immediately, the dense deafening explosion sounded again, and the entire Vientiane Bridge was surrounded by firelight, and between the thick piers, section by section of the bridge deck fell into the water, and disappeared in the rolling yellow waves in an instant.

To block the advance of the enemy's nearly 200,000 troops with more than 4,000 troops, the disparity in strength is too far away, and some extraordinary means must be available, even if this steel bridge, which is not easy to build at a huge cost, can only be destroyed.

Of course, it is not that you can rest easy by blowing up the bridge deck, the indestructible piers and the main body of the bridge deck can still be used by the enemy to cross the river, and professional sappers can repair the bridge in a very short time, although it may be difficult for tanks and armored vehicles, but infantry is by no means a problem.

Moreover, this is the narrowest part of the Mekong River, and there are a lot of bridge piers on the water, so it is very convenient for sappers to build pontoon bridges, so Zhang Linghu still has a long way to go.

"Brigade seat, there is a French major general who asks to see him, and the person has already arrived at the headquarters." A soldier reported to Zhang Linghu.

"Major General of the French Army?" Zhang Linghu frowned, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go, take a look." ”

At the moment, they need foreign aid, but they will not let go of any force that can be encircled, however, the French are not stupid, it is definitely impossible for them to take the initiative to send troops for frontal defense, which also involves diplomacy, politics and other inextricable relations, after all, the current French Vichy government is still under the orders of the Germans.

But since they accepted Zhuang Fuguo's suggestion, their identity has also become very embarrassing and delicate, on the one hand, they don't want to offend the island people too much, and on the other hand, they hope to use the power of the Chinese army to stabilize their colonies and get rid of the control and plunder of the island army, so this also gives Zhang Linghu the idea of using them.

The headquarters was not set up in the city behind it, but chose a relatively hidden and open view of the hidden fortress on the defensive line.

When Zhang Linghu walked into the headquarters, he heard the sound of chattering inside at the door, which seemed to be quite lively.

took off his raincoat and handed it to the guards, and pulled the wet military uniform on his body, Zhang Linghu strode in.

I saw a blonde and blue-eyed French officer with the rank of major general on his shoulder pointing fingers in his headquarters, speaking in French, and Zhang Linghu couldn't understand a word.

Seeing Zhang Linghu come in, the major general officer immediately stepped forward, stretched out his right hand to Zhang Linghu from a distance, and muttered with a smile on his face, and the interpreter immediately translated on the side: "Major General Andrew, commander of the 5th Infantry Division in French Indochina, it's a pleasure to meet General Zhang!" ”

"It turned out to be General Andrew, fortunately! What, is General Andrew here to teach me how to fight? ”

Although he didn't understand what Andrew was saying before, seeing him pointing at the map, Zhang Linghu could probably guess something, so there was inevitably some dissatisfaction in his words.

After listening to the interpreter's words, Andrew's face immediately became excited, and told Zhang Linghu through the translator that he was not going to preach, but that the setting up of this command was too unreasonable, so he didn't hold back, no one would set up the command on the defensive line, and this place would not be more than two kilometers away from the opposite bank, and the enemy could easily cover it with any artillery, the danger factor was too high, this was irresponsible to the army, and their French officers would never allow this situation to occur on the battlefield.

Zhang Linghu was amused by Andrew's seriousness, pointed to the interpreter and said: "You tell him that Chinese officers never hide behind soldiers, they will only fight the enemy side by side with the soldiers, and share life and death weal and woe, so Chinese soldiers can be invincible and invincible." ”

Although Andrew still couldn't understand Zhang Linghu's approach, he finally gave him a thumbs up, maybe because of Zhang Linghu's arrogance.

Of course, Zhang Linghu is by no means the kind of general who is simple-minded and only knows how to fight and rush violently, on the contrary, his mind is very meticulous, take the command in front of him as an example.

It seems that it is indeed as Andrew said, too close to the enemy's defense line, it is easy to be hit by the enemy's artillery fire, a unit loses the supreme command system, no matter how elite it is, it is in vain, so the safety of the command should be the first place.

But Zhang Linghu has his thoughts, their troops are insufficient, but the defense line is not short at all, if everything is reported by the soldiers to get the forward battle situation, sometimes it may really be too late, after all, there are only so many troops available for their own dispatch, only by personally staring at the front line, timely discovering the enemy's offensive situation and coming up with the corresponding defensive plan, it is more likely to firmly control the position in their own hands.

As for the security issue, it is not as mysterious as Andrew said, although the terrain is high on the entire defense line, but after all, it is also a permanent dark fortress built of reinforced concrete, which can completely disappear in the eyes of the enemy with a little disguise, and at the same time, the enemy's artillery fire will definitely bombard the fire point, as long as there is no obvious fire point here, it is basically safe.